Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-12-17
A MODEST FUNNY MAN.
HOW A .HuMoRIsT CLIMBED TO
AN EMINENT PLACE.

Country Boys. Who IIavo Doeome Fa-
mons in Observation-Disclosures Bust
ncss Men Who First Saw Daylight ia
tho Rural Districts-A Long List
Whoever reads about a funny man sus-
poets fun in what ho is reading, but no fun
is intended when say that Nyc is modest.
lie is almost painfully so. He is himself the
last person he ever talks about-the last
whom he tries to push along. 1t was in the
minds of most men present on tho evening
when he was introduced to tho guild he has
himself distinguished, to regard him as in
tcrestiES because he is an outsider come to
Now York. Not only that, because he has
lcapod from Wyoming territory over the
heads OF SO many Of us hero and into salary
OF 5000 q year. That is tho broad fact
about his lie. Tho Lesser details arc known
to few Born in Now England, he went west
wh;lc young, but, like the typical American,
was not SO much either an eastern or Il west
crn .uan, but that he could strongly identify
himself with other sections, as he did with
AShovillo, n C. He is a lawyer, but discon-
rec.cd newspaper work was his main
reliance until one day he ceased serious
writing discovered his own humorous
vein. founded a paper in Laramie City, Wy,
T., named it The Boomerang, after Il mule
that no owned, and saw it fail for lack OF
subscribers, while every newspaper office in
tho country prized it and riddled it with
shears. Then he had an offer of the position
he now occupies, and his success excites re-
mark among his co-laborers because as they
say, .ho is q country boy who has climbed to
enlincuce over the shoulders of the New
Torkcrs."
Was there ever such nonsense unpunisheds
The very men who have made this remark
to mo are countrvnen born and reared. In
that room, listening to Nye, there WAS only
one born New Yorker-himSelf curiosity in
the profession on that account In tho little
circle that Nyo joined on that night arc the
managing editors Of six daily newspapers,
and not one OF them is a New Yorker. There
were leader writer's, critics, city editors and
reporters, and only ono New Yorker. Was
thcro over such a thing heard of New York
is instructed, entertained, advised and in
formed by countrymen manning every one
of its newspapers.
And pray tell mo in what walk Of life in
Gotham would Bill Nye be any moro of an
exception to tho rule than he is in journal
sin, Wall street, ruled by Gould, who came
with headful of hayseed grown up the
uut,son;or S. V. White, who is rs country
looking today as the obelisk in tho park, and
who halls from farm; or Cyrus w. Field,
OF tho little hamlet OF StocKbrid3o, Mass.
Would Bill Nye have broken the rule lad he
come hero TO pracrico law Will Hoscoe Conk-
ling, OF U tica, who was rank provincial IN
dress, habits and manners when he started
anew Ut middle asc ii this city lev ycars
ago, with Joseph u. Choatc, who was u courl-
try boy with Enhu Root, who halls from tho
Adirondack region, or William +. Howe,
III. English immigrant, or ninety-nine i'll
hundred other lawyers! Would Edgar VIII
sou Nye be rarity if no had come here
Clergyman with North of Ireland JOHN Hall,
Western DR.. Colyer, and ell the others,
among whom only two that / know OF are
city Iler? Hero and there you will find i'll
the roll of city doctors tho born New York
son OF q dead and COMO New Yorker, inherit
Ing tho fathers business, but the leading doc
tors and the mass OF doctors are OIL the farms
OF the country. And pray whore is it not
the same, from our country born mayor to
the last fgurante in the last line of girls in
Rce's Burlesquo company'
Oar best policeman, Alex Williams, is
Nora Scotian; our pet and pride. Chauncey
Mitchell Dcpew ran barefooted over the rocks
OF Ncstchester as q boy; our Harry Hill was
u country pumpkin in England once; our
Morosini, whom the boys rreyercntly cali
"tho macaroni millionaire" wns a country
boy in Italy, end Russell Sage would not get
over being country" or swapping horses or
wearing boots if he lived G thousand years.
EraStus Wilnan was born in Toronto so that
he isnot countryman, but neither is be
New Yorker. 1t is the same in the art world
The only New York born artist that know
Of is Charles J. Taylor, of Puck. In politics
thero are several New Yorkors, though they
form only a drop in the bucketful Of country
men who rule this town
But to turn the subject and view it from
tho other side, let US 500 whether any New
Workers occur to the mind as having a famo
Sufficient to rank them in Importance with
tao country boys who arc forever pouring
into town and shouldorinS every one before
them and out Of their way7 Yes, there is
Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Bergh and
Berry Wall, the cI-monarch Of dude
dom; and William Waldorf Aston,
and, think, Judge Hilton, tho heir Of a. T.
Stewart, ard James Gordon Bennett, Tony
Pastor, Pierre Lorillard and Edward Harri-
gan. OF those who wero born here and are
quito famous in town there are many Of the
Leiis of old established business houses,
among which Mr.. Bennett and MIR. Lorillard
belong, as do the Appletons and Harpers;
but though their establishments are famous
abroad in tho land the individuals ere mainly
unknown outside the city. IT you include
the knickerbockers and other landed fami-
lies Of long established residence Zero you
will edd possibly 1900 men, women and chill
drcn to the list, though not all Tie Knicker-
bociiers 10y which is meant descendants of
tho Dutch) are city folks Every ono OF tho
Vandcrbilts of tho first, second and third
generations, dating forward from The old
commodore, was born countryman and
farmers son.-Julian Ralph's New York
Letter.
Farragut and His Son.
''TT-hile at station On the lower Missis-
s;ppi Admiral Farra ut gave orders for the
crows of the gunboats to get their fresh meat
from the country One day boat from the